Life, 1922-10-05 · page 12 of 36
Life — October 5, 1922 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page features an interview with British Poet Laureate Robert Bridges regarding his critical statement "To Hell with America." The handwritten quote visible in the image confirms Bridges made this inflammatory remark. The accompanying cartoon satirizes the complaint through a domestic scene: a woman asks a zookeeper to silence a roaring lion because she has a headache. The joke draws a parallel—just as the woman finds the lion's noise unbearable, so too do Americans find Bridges' harsh criticism intolerable. The cartoon mocks both Bridges' outburst and America's sensitive reaction to foreign criticism. The "New York Whirled" subtitle suggests Life magazine is presenting this as sensationalized news coverage typical of yellow journalism.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
LIFE BRITISH POET LAUREATE SAYS “TO HELL WITH AMERICA” CLAIRE DE LOONY INTERVIEWS LAUREATE ROBERT BRIDGES FOR ‘THE NEW YORK WHIRLED” eee October 2nd.—My monthly remittance from the Russian Government having been reduced to only two million rubles, owing to paper shortage and a printer’s mutiny, I was compelled to make my journey through the heart of Slopshire to the home of the Poet Laureate by rail, instead of, as would have been my preference, by motor. Slopshire is well named; I arrived at the quaint little town of Wholecloth-Flummox amid a perfect downpour of pure mud. Imagine my dismay to find no taxicab to convey me to the Laureate’s home—no porter to carry my heavy sculp- tor’s kit; not even the plebeian omnibus was in evidence. To carry a hundred pounds of clay and my basket of tools—which alone weighed something under a ton—over a muddy road for upwards of sixteen versts—I mean miles—(Russian still comes more readily to my tongue than English) was no joke; but I brought it off, as you say in America, and arrived, in less time than it takes to invent it, at the door of the ivy-clad cottage of the famous poet—alas, only to find I had trudged my sixteen versts—I mean miles—for nothing. I was refused admittance. My little stratagem of pre- tending to be a sculptor and offering to do a portrait bust at reduced rates and saying nothing about being an inter- viewer—the scheme that worked so perfectly with Lenin - The Lady (to Mike, the keeper): Won't you please make that lion stop roaring? and Trotsky and Mr. Kipling—for once failed me utterly. Mr. Bridges didn’t want his bust taken, he hated busts and I was requested to leave the premises at once. I summoned all my well-known charm to my aid and asked the footman who brought the Laureate’s messag: if he would beg his Laureateship, in the interest of inter national amity, to answer one question in writing. The question I submitted to him was as follows: you consider that America is on the road to Hell?” The answer came like a thunderclap. I give it to the New York IVhirled verbatim: “TO HELL WITH AMERICA! (Signed) Robert Bridges.” “Do Eprtor’s NorE:—Owing to a clever coup de bandit on the part of a member of its staff, Lire is enabled to repro- duce for its readers the original script of the Laureate’s message, as edited by Claire de Loony for the New York Whirled—it speaks for itself. ase ell tN I have a slight headache. comicbooks.com